Under the Pines – Edith Cowan House

… and was once the home of Edith Dircksey Cowan(1861 – 1932) OBE, a social campaigner, philanthropist, and the first woman elected to an Australian parliament.

The house was purchased by the university in 1991, taken apart, transported north (from its original location at 71 Malcolm Street, West Perth) and then rebuilt and relocated on the ECU campus in a park named Joondalup Pines…

While it was interesting to learn more about a woman whose portrait appears on the reverse side of the reverse side of every Australian fifty dollar note…

… my main reason for visiting was to check out the typewriter owned by her grandson, Peter…

… my main reason for visiting was to check out the typewriter owned by her grandson, Peter …

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Peter (Walkinshaw) Cowan (1914 – 2002) published five novels, eight volumes of short stories, and was a prolific essayist, biographer and literary critic.

Peter’s typewriter, writing desk and chair are on display in the Centre’s Library room.